Icy roads Friday morning prompt school delays

Photo by Mike Hensdill/The Gaston Gazette) (L-R) Lowell Officer J. Blair and Cramerton Officer B.K.Hoyle check out a car that ran backward into the woods due to icy road conditions along South Main Street near Kenworthy Avenue in Lowell early Friday morning, January 18, 2013. No one was injuried in the accident.

Published: Friday, January 18, 2013 at 06:04 AM.

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Gaston County Schools announced a two-hour delay to the start of school and police responded to numerous minor wrecks in the county.

Snow fell in some sections of the county Thursday night but most of it melted upon hitting surfaces.

Capt. Bill Melton with Gaston County Police Department rode from Stanley through Dallas to Cherryville early Friday monitoring road conditions. His agency responded to some wrecks including a single-vehicle crash on Hickory Grove Road outside Stanley around 7 a.m.

The car hit an icy spot in the road and rolled over, but the driver didn’t suffer any injuries, he said.

North Carolina Highway Patrol troopers responded to several wrecks on I-85.

Gaston County Schools announced a two-hour delay to the start of school and police responded to numerous minor wrecks in the county.

Snow fell in some sections of the county Thursday night but most of it melted upon hitting surfaces.

Capt. Bill Melton with Gaston County Police Department rode from Stanley through Dallas to Cherryville early Friday monitoring road conditions. His agency responded to some wrecks including a single-vehicle crash on Hickory Grove Road outside Stanley around 7 a.m.

The car hit an icy spot in the road and rolled over, but the driver didn’t suffer any injuries, he said.

North Carolina Highway Patrol troopers responded to several wrecks on I-85.

“The problem that we have is its coldest right before dawn and when the roads got bad (Friday) morning it was about 6:30, when the roads were wet from the rain last night. Right before dawn it will glaze over,” Melton said. “What happens is that’s when the black ice comes in and you can’t see the black ice and it looks like it’s just wet (pavement).”

At 4:20 a.m. Friday, Melton rode by a bridge on Dallas-Stanley Highway covered with ice. He received a road report from the patrol sergeant who worked throughout the night before detailing road conditions in the county.

At noon Friday, service writer David Applebee at Wilburn Auto Body Shop in Belmont hadn’t worked on any vehicles damaged in wrecks earlier that day. But sometimes the process takes a while as cars are towed and insurance companies are contacted, so wreckage could possibly still arrive in need of repair.

“We haven’t had any tows as of right now. Obviously with inclement weather, people crash more but we haven’t seen much,” he said.

Gazette reporter Wade Allen can be reached at 704-869-1828; twitter.com/gazettewade.